Package



G. CAPALDI Sept. 20, 1955 PACKAGE Filed May 5, 1952 ni Ste s Pmfi o PACKAGE 1 V Gennaro Capaldi, Water-town, Mass. Application May 3, 1952, Serial No. 285,900 1 Claim. (Cl. 206-65) This invention relates to packages and has for an object to produce apackage of material such, for example, as food, drugs, chemicals, photographic supplies, electronic equipment and devices, delicate apparatus, or other material or articleswhich must be protected against outside atmospheric or other conditions such as radio 'activity, biological warfare, mildew, humidity, high or low temperatures.

A further object is to provide a package in which the product packaged is protected from extreme temperatures, either heat or cold, water, gases, chemical reactions, rays, atmospheric pressure, water pressure, explosion reactions, shock, concussion splinters, natural and unnatural forces.

Still another object is to provide such a package having suflicient buoyancy in water to float so that it may be dropped thereinto from aircraft, surface vessel, boat or ship, or projected therethrough from beneath the surface from submarines or other water craft.

A further object is to provide a package which will from point of release in water travel to shore within a relatively short time, by a combination of balanced rotation revolution and propulsion by wind and wave or other physical forces.

Further objects and advantages will appear from a description of an embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a perspective view partly broken away and in section of a package embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a detail sectional view on line 22 of Figure 3 of the same.

Figure 3 is a detail sectional view on line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a somewhat diagrammatic view showing the manner in which such packages dropped into or projected up within a body of water tend to be moved therein.

Referring to the drawings, at 1 is shown an outer cylindrical container having a cylindrical side wall and flat end walls 2. This container may be formed of any suitable metal, if desired, and in order that it may be unaffected by dampness or salt water, it may be painted or otherwise coated, either outside or inside walls or both, with a suitable composition, chemical, paint or material a impervious to sea water and capable of protecting the container walls from deterioration. Within the outer container, which is hermetically sealed, there are placed in balanced position three cylindrical axes of inner hermetically sealed containers cylindrical in form in plurality arrangement so that the total length of the outside container is greater than the diameter of the outside container and particularly when intended for flotation in water, of such size that three containers may be placed within the outer container in a single layer in mutual contact and spaced from the cylindrical outer wall of the outer container only by shock absorbing material 4, as shown in Figure 3, which may be corrugated cardboard or other suitable shock absorbing and insulating material. The inner containers may be formed of any 2,718,302 Patented Sept. 2t), 1955 suitable metal, painted or otherwise coated, either outside or inside walls or both, with a suitable composition, chemical, paint 'or material for protection against factors, elements and conditions herein before mentioned. All inner containers may be hermetically sealed. I

Preferably, as shown, there may be two or more layers of the inner containers 3, each comprising three inner containers hermetically sealed and enclosing the desired product. A suitable shock absorbing and insulating disk such as 5 may be'interposed between the several-layers of inner containers and between the outer ends'of either layer of the inner containers and the end walls 2 of the outer container. This insulating disk may also be formed of corrugated cardboard or other shock absorbing and insulating material.

The arrangement is such that the spaces between the inner containers 3 and the outer container and the central space 6 between the inner containers, which are balanced about their three separate axesand arranged symmetrically and in balance about the axis of the outer container 1, in the aggregate form a volume of sufiicient size with respect to the volumes and weights of the inner containers 3 and contents and the outer container 1 to cause the package to float in water, and because of the balanced symmetrical arrangement of the inner containers, the package will revolve and rotate in the water, floating horizontally as illustrated in Figure 4. Such packages may be dropped from aircraft, ships, surface vessels and boats into bodies of water and after the initial plunge into the water they will rise to the surface where they can be recovered, or they may be projected from below the surface of the water as from submarines or other water craft, whereupon it is found that they rise to the surface with their axes substantially vertical until they reach the surface, whereupon they drop over into horizontal position as shown in Figure 4.

Likewise the weight of the containers is so distributed that they tend to float with two of the inner containers of each layer substantially horizontal and when displaced from this position angularly by wind or wave, the centers of gravity are so displaced that the package tends to roll, say, from the position shown at A in Figure 4 to the position B. This characteristic tends to cause motion of the packages in the water more rapid than is imparted by the action of wind and wave alone, so that such packages work rapidly toward shore where they may be salvaged.

It is found that a package so made can be subjected to extreme temperatures, either high or low, without the contents of the inner containers becoming raised or lowered to dangerous temperatures, even though the package be subjected to extreme temperatures for a considerable period of time. The cushioning elements 4 and 5 together with the protective materials and processes on the walls of the outer and inner containers, prevent rapid heat interchange between the outside and inside walls and the air spaces between the inner containers and the outer container also act to delay the transmission of heat either inwardly or outwardly.

It is also found that relatively light materials, such as cigarettes, may be packaged within the spaces and be protected from outside effects, such materials being ineffective to reduce or change the buoyancy or axis balance of the entire package to such a degree that it will not float or will not rotate or revolve. By reason of the two sets of containers, the small containers being within the outer container, contamination is prevented from reaching the contents of the inner containers, even though it may reach the outer container, and where the containers are formed of metal, the effects of atomic and bacteriological contamination are retained outside of the inner containers so that these may be opened when desired without probability of their contents becoming contami'n'ate'd, as" such contents might if they were contained immediately within the outer container.

It has been found in practice that food products so packaged retain their flavors and edibility for indefinite periods and such packages are therefore valuable as emergency survival rations which may be safely employed when other food products may have been destroyed or so damaged as to be inedible. I

From the foregoing description of an embodiment of this invention it should be evident to those skilled in theart that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. 1 I

I claim: V

'A floatable package which displaces approximately onehalf itsvolume in water comprising .an outer elongated cylindrical hermetically sealed metal container, having fiat end closures, with groups of three like cylindrical hermetically sealed inner containers therein, in layers,

each fof the inner containers containing an article, the containers of each group each having flat end closures and being arranged side by side and balanced symmetrically'about thelongitudinal axis of the outer container with the axes of the inner containers parallel thereto, the

inner container of each group being aligned with the corresponding container of the adjacent group, said inner containers being on line contact with each other and each having a portion of its cylindrical wall in closely spaced relation to the inner cylindrical wall surface of the outer container, shock absorbing and insulating sheet material being interposed within the said spaces between the inner and outer containers and between the abutting ends of the inner containers and maintaining the inner containers in a balanced, fixed relation to the outer container.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 213,046 Hamlin Mar. 11, 1879 796,552 Bauer Aug. 8, 1905 1,332,985 Jarrett Mar. 9, 1920 1,641,700 Sperry Sept. 6, 1927 1,917,886 Hogan .t a July 11, 1933 1,974,995 Pram Sept. 25, 1934 2,013,729 Holmes Sept. 10, 1935 2,129,488 Bomberg'er Sept. 6, 1938 2,300,259 Kueppers "1. Oct. 27, 1942 McKay Apr. 24, 1945 

